The Staple Singers - Life During Wartime / The Staple Singers - Slippery People
If you've seen David Byrne's film True Stories, you may remember the character of the voodoo priest. It wasn't a large role, but it was one with a song attached: Papa Legba. It was given an amazingly eerie and haunted performance by Roebuck "Pops" Staples, a man who played with Robert Johnson and Son House, and the patriarch of the first family of gospel, The Staple Singers.

It wasn't the first time that Staples had tacked Talking Heads songs. Here's the whole family with two absolutely brilliant tracks from the mid-'80s, Life During Wartime and Slippery People. The latter was something of a club hit, but frankly these are both impeccable renditions, sharp and crisp and loaded with energy. Having heard so many bad Talking Heads covers over the past few days, I'm amused by the fact that these superb recordings come not from their alt.rock contemporaries but from a band who formed in 1948.

The Staple Singers - Life During Wartime
(alternate download)
The Staple Singers - Slippery People
(alternate download)